Three dimensional (3D) printers are becoming more ubiquitous. 3D printers are typically used to create three dimensional objects from a particular material.
In addition, printing on 3D objects is challenging. 3D objects can pose many obstacles not previously encountered in conventional sense of image formation and printing. Some of these challenges may include jetting across large and varying gaps, object detection, image to object registration and object holding to name a few challenges.
Typical ink-jet printing based solution for 3D objects may also present a challenge. Ink-jet print heads may require small gaps (e.g., approximately 1-4 millimeters (mm)) between the face of the ink-jet print head and the object. Sometimes, this may not be possible because of the topography of a 3D object. For example, 3D objects may have deep recesses that a print head simply cannot access and maintain a proper gap.